Winters receives scholarship

One local student, Marcia L. Winters, is one of 43 college students nationwide receiving scholarships this spring.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation will award more than $8 million in graduate scholarships to 43 college students who are scheduled to graduate.

Miss Winters and the other students will each receive up to $50,000 per year to complete their graduate or professional degrees as part of the Foundation's Graduate Scholarship Program. The 2003 awards bring to 93 the number of graduate scholarships awarded so far by the foundation.

To be selected as a Jack Kent Cooke scholar, individuals had to show not only exceptional academic ability, but also a strong will to succeed and other qualities including demonstrated critical thinking, a love of music or art, and appreciation for literature.

The 43 awardees were selected from a pool of 842 applicants. The scholarship winners include 24 women and 19 men. A group of 12 independent academic representatives, including college deans, professors and admissions officers from across the country assisted the Foundation in the selection process. Eight of the 43 had previously received undergraduate scholarships from the Foundation.

The 2003 scholars represent various backgrounds, and several have distinguished themselves through international projects they have been involved in while undergraduates, including:

The award will provide funding for tuition, room and board, fees, and books for the duration of the approved degree program (no more than six years). Scholarship amounts will vary for each recipient based on several factors, including costs at the college or university he or she attends. The scholars may use the award to attend any accredited graduate school in the U.S. or abroad.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, based in Lansdowne, Va., is a private, independent foundation, established by Jack Kent Cooke to help young people of exceptional promise reach their full potential through education.